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Sunday, May 6, 2012

That '90s Show

We
just have one TV in our house. It’s been kept over a trolley, bought for the
same purpose, in my parents’ bedroom. It’s the same TV that my nani gave as one of the wedding gifts to
my newly wedded parents back in 1989. Dowry sounds like a bad word. So yes, it
was a wedding gift. My dad didn’t ask for a TV, so don’t call it dowry. Or I
guess it still is “dahej ka TV”.
Well, nevermind.

It’s
a grey TV with a convex screen. In simpler words, it’s not as flat as the rotis
that your mum makes. The dahej ka TV
has been with us for almost 23 years now. It still is in perfect working
condition. Originally, it had only 15 channels, but later we got some machinery
upgraded and it now shows up to 90 channels. The brand name that shines a
little above its chin is Bush. And call it a coincidence if you wish to, but no
one cares about this name in the world anymore. Out of sight; out of mind.

A
month back, my dad suggested that we buy a new TV, complete with a home theatre
system, et al. Considering the time that all of us spend at the office every day,
I knew that it wasn’t really the need for a better TV that brought the idea
into his head, but a feeling of not having felt Punjabi enough in front of
guests in the past few months.

We
don’t really watch TV. I don’t think people find the time to watch TV these days.
I rather find something entertaining to watch or read on the internet than
waste time clicking buttons on a plastic case that induced fascination among
people back in the 1990’s.

So
yes, I believe TV’s have become a thing of the past. The 1990’s can be called
the Golden Age of television, when the TV brought together family members to
spend time with each other during dinner every night. The decade of the 1990’s
brought a whole new meaning to cable television in India. With Zee TV, Star
Plus, Sony, Cartoon Network and Star Movies being the most watched channels
after Doordarshan, cable television had become a very integral part of our
lives.

We
all remember the great dancers, writers, poets, singers and other entertainers
who we have just heard about and not seen in real life. It’ll be unfair to not
remember the shows that defined the Golden Age of television and entertained
our families through at least an eighth of our lives. No matter how undeserving
a few of the following names may sound to you, don’t forget that even Om Shanti
Om bagged a couple of Filmfares in the year of its release.

The Most Memorable Hindi Sitcom: Hum Paanch

Ashok
Saraf as Anand Mathur and his 5 daughters would visit us every week with half
an hour of incessant recorded laughs played in the background. Anand’s first
wife, played by the hung-on-a-photo-frame Priya Tendulkar, would pass
wisecracks like googlies through the twenty-one minutes of an episode’s
recording. We all still remember the way Sweety would break into a bollywood
number every time that the door bell rang, and her ambition of becoming a Miss
India and marrying Shahrukh Khan.

I
agree that Hum Paanch was one of the lamest sitcoms I have ever made myself sit
through (assuming SAB TV to be inexistent till date), but it was the first show
that actually brought recognition to Balaji Telefilms and made me go, “Arrey yeh toh Hum Paanch wala logo hai” when
an episode of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu
Thi ended a decade later.

I’m
sure my friend Vidya Balan would be in agreement with me on calling the show
one of the most memorable series of 1990’s television. Of what I remember, she
got her break in the industry with her role as Radhika, the deaf daughter of
Anand Mathur.

Hum Paanch ko no less than paanch mein se paanch.

The Most Memorable English Sitcom: Small
Wonder

The
1990’s wasn’t really the time for English shows to enter the Indian industry. I
remember episodes of Dennis the Menace, The Three Stooges and Bewitched being
aired on Sony way back in 1995, but none of them were any kind of competition
to Small Wonder. Vicki, Jamie and Harriet were friends whom I used to love
meeting every evening when dadi would
give me a glass of milk. I know it sounds cheesy, but there was never a show
more dearly to me than Small Wonder. The show made us all try to stick an
electric plug up our armpits on seeing how Vicki would plug the vacuum cleaner
or the electric iron to it. We don’t just remember the show for Harriet’s
annoying love for Jamie and Vicki’s robot voice, but also for at least one kiss
that Mr. & Mrs. Lawson would share in each episode.

Star
Plus tried to bring the magic back with Karishma ka Karishma in the mid-2000’s,
but like I said, nothing beats the television industry of the 1990’s.

The Most Memorable Cartoon Show: Duck Tales

Cartoon
Network came to India and became a hit with the kids in the 1990’s.
Hannah-Barbera have given the world some of the most loved cartoon characters,
but the uniqueness of Disney has always remained unmatched. Duck Tales and
Talespin were two cartoon shows that used to air on Doordarshan for the whole
country to enjoy. Its access wasn’t limited to just the urban elite with a
cable connection in their house. It was heartwarming to see how Donald Duck’s
presence was multiplied and to-the-power-ofied by the show. Huey, Dewey, Louie,
Uncle Scrooge, Launchpad McQuack, the Beagle Boys and the Lucky Coin are still
fresh in all of our memories. The show would make us smile like Uncle Scrooge
during his swimming sessions in his “teh-khaana”.

Baloo,
Ked, Madam Mahalingam, Louis and Pantar used to look equally adorable in front
of Higher for Hire’s yellow air-plane, but Duck Tales scores a point higher.
Blame it on our love for ducks. Quack.

Mukesh
Khanna’s on-screen romance with Kittu Gidwani, Dr. Jackal’s behenji looking assistant and Tamraj
Kilvish’s pointy nose were not enough that the show started a small
post-episode session called “Chhoti
Chhoti Magar Moti Baatein” to haunt our dreams till eternity. “Sorry
Shaktimaan” became the most spoken phrase all around the country.

Considering
the number of children who jumped off their balconies, the number who would be
seen wearing Shaktimaan costumes and riding bicycles in my colony, and the
number who fell into the habit of suffixing “Shaktimaan” after every “sorry”, I’m
sure there were instances of fathers in our country being addressed as
Shaktimaan instead of the Indian favorite “Papa”.

The Most Memorable Reality Show: Close-Up
Antakshari

The
1990’s was the era of originality. We, as Indians, were proud of the games that
we played. I still remember playing Pitthu
with my cousins during the summer vacations. We were so proud that we chose to
take one such game to television and call it not just Antakshari, but “Close-Up
Antakshari”.

A
decade before fakes like KBC, Indian Idol and Bigg Boss brought families to
spend time together in front of the idiot box at night; Close-Up Antakshari did
the same in style. Anu Kapoor with his ever-changing co-hosts brought to us a
show that was devoid of tears, beeps, unnecessary drama, and a hunger for
soaring TRP’s. The Deewane, Parwaane and Mastaane would make every member of
the family sing along.

For
setting an ideal example for reality television that was sadly not followed by
the reality shows of the 2000’s, Close-Up Antakshari will always be remembered
fondly.

The Most Memorable VJ: Vishal

“Dear
Vishal Bhaiya” was how every kid who wrote to Disney Hour addressed his
letters. That explains how immensely Vishal was loved by children across the
sub-continent. In an age when we didn’t know of production houses and TV show
rights, all we knew was that Vishal brought us our favorite cartoon shows to
watch every evening between 6p.m. to 7p.m. on Zee TV. Having not hit puberty,
we didn’t care for all the Ruby Bhatias and Mallaika Aroras who VJ’ed on Mtv
and Channel V.

Even
though his on-screen presence these days is limited to being a sidekick to
Shahid Kapur, it’s commendable how he still looks the same as he looked some fifteen
odd years back.

The Most Memorable Show on Nickelodeon:
Legends of the Hidden Temple

Nickelodeon
brought a whole new level of kids’ entertainment via television to India. Shows
like Kenan and Kel, All That, Hey Arnold, Global Guts and many more exposed the
Indian children to the level of adventure and comedy that was, um, I’m sorry to
admit, far superior to what the Indian production houses produced and shoved in
our faces. I’m talking about the time when we weren’t introduced to Full House,
Seinfeld and Friends by our elder siblings. Let’s not even count the latter
three in the list of 90’s TV shows. We’ve watched them on our laptops, haven’t
we?

So,
among all the awesome shows on Nick, the one that stood out was Legends of the
Hidden Temple. The talking Olmec, the Temple Guards (“Mandir ke pehredaar” for all those like me who watched it in Hindi),
the Mayan-like set, swanky team names and mouth guards were way beyond what we
call awesome.

The Red
Jaguars, Purple Parrots, Silver Snakes, Orange Iguanas, Blue Barracudas and the
Green Monkeys battled it out to collect semi circular gold coins which
eventually won one of the teams an entry into the Temple. I remember cheering
for the teams from my drawing room, and shouting out instructions on how to assemble
the monkey god’s statue to unlock a door.

There
are so many more shows, a mention of which would require another post in
itself.

We’ve
all evolved from the time of television entertainment to smart-phone
connectivity. It’s not a bad age to live in though. ‘Cuz I’m sure how in
another one decade or even less, we’ll have an article mentioning the Golden
Age of smart-phone that will mention names like Angry Birds, Cut The Rope and
Temple Run. Isn’t technology such a Jalebi?

sarthak!! you have exactly mentioned all the show i used to watch as a kid!..hum paanch and small wonder being my 'favouritest'!! and i realy liked this thing you said- "isn't technology such a jalebi?" such a cool thing to say!!with every blog you keep making more sense :P lol! good going!!! ;)

@@@@@Few days ago i was having the discussion on d same topic with people!!! do you remember (I hope u do) Dekh bhai dekh?? and just mohabbat or even hip hip hurray! i loved the vishal wala part tho i think even at that age i ha d a crush on him ;) and yaaa dude bewitched! sigh! aawww i miss these shows so much!

@@@@@I absolutely loved small wonder. And legends of the hidden temple. And hum paanch. Hell, all of them.I have started feeling old now, kind of like how our grandparents say 'hamare time me'. Sigh.But nonetheless, great post. :)

I used to play legends of the hidden temple with my friends on the terrace. It was awesome. And shouting and screaming everytime the kids used to stumble in the room of three doors or assembling the monkey. Boy, those were the times.:D

You pseudo 90's person! Pokemon didn't even come on Indian television before 2002.In the 90's, the only Pokemon shit one knew about was how some dude in the school bus would have Pokemon cards that his dad got from the US.And you mention Digimon here?! Tauheen!

You brought back some sweet memories of the most golden period of ones life, childhood. Full House was my favourite; Michelle , Uncle Jesse, Joey ( guess Joey is a common name for a dumb funny guy in all the 90's popular shows)Love reading it :)

@@@@@All jalebis well deserved! Take a bow and call yourself Jalebi bai now :P

I can totally relate to each and every word of this article, right from the top. The carton box size Sony TV that my grand-dad refused to part away with, the sitcoms you mentioned, everything! While I was reading about Hum Paanch, I was going through a list of serials I used to watch in my mind. And they appeared as I scrolled in the exact chronology (except Family No. 1 :P). Oh boy!

I am definitely opening you a HALWAI SHOP...@@@@@it's so amazing to read about all these old shows that got us hooked. 90's generation is the luckiest of all to have witnessed such amazing characters and story-lines...cheerios!!

Hahaha... I remeber the 'Vishal bhaiya' times, oh lordy! And it's so true that people don't watch television these days! But, in my house, the television is blaring almost 12 hrs a day, courtsey my 5-yr-old brother and my dadi...Never watched Legends of the Hidden Temple or Small Wonder, though... I was probably too young or non-existent back then (yup, now feel old :p)... The only show I ever watched on Nick, besides Sponge Bob, was a show called Mutant Ninja Turtles... loved 'em!Jalebis for everyone!@@@@@@@@@@@